Aurora School hosts nature trail tour

A new one-mile-long trail is in Middlebury’s Means Woods and is accessible from the Seminary Street Extension and Peterson Terrace Trail Around Middlebury parking lots.

On Thursday, Nov. 13, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., the students of the Aurora Middle School will be giving the first tours of the nature trail and outdoor classroom that they have designed.

The one mile trail is in Means Woods and is accessible from the Seminary Street Extension and Peterson Terrace Trail Around Middlebury parking lots. The tours are open to the public and all are encouraged to attend. “I am excited to teach people about our woods and give them tours,” Xavier Wyncoop, an eighth grader at Aurora Middle School explained when asked about his favorite part of the trail design project.

The seventh and eighth graders have spent this fall designing an educational nature trail and outdoor classroom just off the Trail Around Middlebury in Means Woods.

The students have been pruning, raking and clearing the trail and outdoor classroom space all fall with the help and guidance of MALT executive director Carl Robinson and Aurora School teacher Danielle Levine. The students have also created an interpretive trail guide that focuses on the flora and fauna of the forest and what it tells us about its natural history and development. Students will use this guide to structure their tours.

The interpretive trail and guide has eight stops that include both activities and information based on what one can see in the specific site. Eighth grader Ethan Reiderer is excited to share the local fauna.

“The bridges on our trail are great because you can see frogs,” Reiderer said when asked what he thought was one of the best parts of the trail.

The outdoor classroom space located in the center of the looping trail provides a perfect space where small groups can settle in to observe and study the woods environment. It has logs placed and spaced for small lessons, sitting, observing, performing studies and writing. A backpack with science supplies, the interpretive guides and other teaching materials will be available for groups to check out from the Aurora School. Tarps will also be available to attach to clips on trees on the edges of the classroom to create a roof on rainy days.

The creation of this trail has been a part of the Aurora Middle School’s academic focus on forests. During this study, students also worked with trail interpreter Craig Zondag, arborist Tim Parsons, biologist Helen Young and park rangers Brian Aust and Ned Bohman. The trail is also part of their program of community service. The trail and curriculum supplies have been generously funded by an Environmental Education grant from the Otter Creek Audubon Society.

This project is very much intended for the community as a whole. Aurora Middle School invites anyone and everyone who is interested in nature and the development of the forests in Middlebury to come to the opening on Nov. 13 or to contact the school for a tour at another time.

Anyone interested in having the Aurora Middle School students give a tour to their group, using any of the teaching materials or getting an interpretive guide, should call Aurora School at 802-388-2637 or e-mail auroramiddleschoolvt@yahoo.com.